By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner was seething and pulled no punches when delivering his postmatch thoughts following the Colliers’ 2-1 home defeat against Grimsby Borough at a windswept Woodhorn Lane ground on Saturday.

Striker Dan Maguire had fired the hosts ahead but as the performance from the Wansbeck outfit deteriorated, goals from Lewis Collins and Adam Drury secured all three points for ‘The Wilderness Boys.’

Skinner stormed: “I think it’s even gone beyond frustration now because I think I would struggle to give any one of our players more than five out of ten for today’s performance. It was on non league day where 700 people have turned up and we have served up ‘that’. I’m actually angry – and it’s not often that I use that word – with that performance because people hear about this team (Ashington) that showed unbelievable fighting spirit away at Pontefract to get a draw when really we possibly should have won. We’ve then gone to Consett and played really well and won then onto Belper where we played unbelievably well and should have won the game but a little bit of individual brilliance got Belper a point. People hear all these things and have come here today and they see ‘that’ performance and they probably think ‘are they spinning us a yarn?’ because that was anything but what we’ve had in the last three games. Listen – I don’t make any bones about it – the players know (about the performance) because we’ve told them. I’m a pretty honest straight talking person and I didn’t lose my temper today – because I take no pleasure in shouting and screaming at grown people but I’ve told them honestly what I thought about their performance today – that it was unacceptable.”

He continued: “It was always going to be difficult conditions with the pitch starting to dry out and being a little bit bobbly. Scott Robson our groundsman has done unbelievable work on it given what condition it has been in over the last few weeks. You say to people (the players) its going to be a difficult day so whatever we do, we make sure we don’t lose the game. Yes we want to go and win it and this is the way we are going to play to try and win it but whatever happens we don’t lose the game. We were kicking against the wind in the first half and I thought some of our play out was really good. The lads showed composure to get on the ball and try and play out from the back. We played out down our left hand side particularly well albeit we actually had a great move down the right hand side which saw us take the lead where we got Wilson Kneeshaw in behind and he’s cut it back to Dan Maguire who has finished the move off.”

Skinner then mentioned a turning point: “A massive moment in the game happens not long after that when we get Wilson (Kneeshaw) clean through again one on one with the goalkeeper and he blasts it high and wide. That is a huge chance because if we go 2-0 up I think we would have gone on and won comfortably. If we are 2-0 up against the wind and we are being able to play out, I’m not sure where Grimsby come back from. Then the frustration and the anger comes in – in the two goals we have conceded. Another message before the game was ‘let’s defend our goal really well; let’s put bodies on the line and let’s do whatever it takes to keep the ball out of our net. If Grimsby are going to score today, they are going to have to be really good and if it’s clever play or it’s a great strike then so be it. The first goal was a catalogue of errors where the ball has trickled in the net and from dominating the game it’s 1-1 and obviously Grimsby’s tails are up and I thought they finished the half the stronger.”

He added: “Second half we come out but we are just nowhere near where we need to be in terms of our play. We talked about being patient amongst others things – but none of that happened. For the second goal we conceded, I was actually writing something down and as I looked up, I saw the ball being played in behind for their striker against Gary Ormston. Obviously he’s gone through and finished it and the two goals we’ve conceded are not acceptable. It’s not like me to speak like this but people need to hear the truth. It’s becoming too often. Fair play to Grimsby – I thought they were the better side in the second half. We just looked abject and devoid of anything that we’ve done really well in the last three games. We changed our goalkeeper today but I gave the other ten lads who did really well at Belper the opportunity to do it again – and they haven’t done it.”

Ashington AFC is pleased to announce a new addition to our management team, aimed at providing more support for our dedicated volunteers. Nicola Sanders-Cooper will be joining Ashington FC’s expanding board, bringing her expertise to drive the club forward into its next strategic phase as we near the conclusion of our first season in the Northern Premier League East.

Nicola brings a wealth of experience, currently holding director-level positions in key local businesses, and boasting a background in sports, including her role as Women’s Sports Development Officer at Gateshead Council. She has facilitated businesses in securing funding through government-backed schemes and brings a diverse approach, with additional experience in the hospitality sector.

When asked about her involvement with Ashington FC, Nicola expressed “This appointment represents a great opportunity for me to give back to the community and contribute to the growth and sustainability of the club. I believe football has the power to bring people together, inspire, and create a sense of belonging. I am excited to work alongside dedicated individuals who share a common vision and I look forward to the journey ahead.”

Drew Tinsley, a fellow board member, commented, “I’ve known Nicola for many years and have witnessed her passion for sports and community involvement, particularly in something we hold dear at the club – charity. Nicola is already bringing in new ideas to push us forward and we are honoured to have her on board.”

Chairman Brian Shotton also remarked, “If, like Nicola, you believe you can offer your skills or profession to the club, we warmly welcome your support, especially in areas such as commercial sales and marketing, which are crucial for the club’s revenue growth and survival in this competitive football landscape. Please reach out to brian.shotton@ashingtonafc.com if you would like to join us on our journey.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC’s Paul Van-Zandvliet admitted that his goal after only 24 seconds against Consett recently is the quickest in his footballing career.

Van-Zandvliet pounced to score the rebound after Wilson Kneeshaw’s initial effort had been parried by Consett ‘keeper James Anderson.

For any player who scores in the first minute of a match it is surely a unique experience – only Van-Zandvliet has experienced it all before!

“Without a doubt it is the quickest I’ve ever scored,” said the North Shields born midfielder, “The ball got played over the top and Wilson Kneeshaw is like lightening with his pace. I knew what he was going to do because we had worked on it in training with the management team and I just wanted to be in and around the six yards box. The ball came to me and I just wanted to make sure that I concentrated and hit a clean strike with my left foot and when it hit the back of the net, it was a great feeling. Two years ago, I scored for North Shields against Newcastle Benfield at Sam Smiths Park which was around 43 seconds and that was a fantastic moment as well.”

For the 23 year old – who is an electrical engineer – it was his second goal in consecutive games and his aim is to bag more: “I’m buzzing after scoring two games in a row,” he added, “It’s something which the management team want me to do more – to arrive late in the box and add that bit extra to the team. Even from a personal point of view I want to score more goals to help the lads and everyone who supports the club.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC striker Wilson Kneeshaw expressed having mixed feelings on Saturday – after he had notched his 15^th goal of the season in the Colliers 2-2 draw against Belper Town.

The 29 year old put the Wansbeck outfit 2-1 ahead 12 minutes into the second half with a fabulous finish but later missed out on another opportunity as he hit the woodwork.

Sidik Atcha then left the visitors shell shocked after he scored a sensational equaliser for The Nailers in time added on.

Kneeshaw commented: “I said to the lads in the dressing room afterwards that as a striker you play football for the moments – so obviously the first moment went really well when I netted the goal and I was happy because it helped the team. For the second moment I’ve gone through again and I feel I should have done better and scored, even though the ‘keeper got a nudge on the ball and it’s hit the post. Then another moment for me was getting back in from tracking the centre half who has eventually gone on and scored the goal right at the death. I’m just disappointed in myself – not with the team – that in some of those moments I wasn’t better.”

Darlington-born Kneeshaw was adamant that Ashington should have taken all three points from the contest: “I thought we were fantastic to be honest,” he said, “We managed the game perfectly and limited their chances and our ‘keeper Karl Dryden has had nothing to do in the second half. We played really, really well but for me it definitely feels like two points dropped.”

By Brian Bennett

Cam Gascoigne netted his second goal of the season at Belper Town on Saturday in the 2-2 draw down in Derbyshire.

And afterwards the 22 year old outlined his target for the remainder of the campaign.

Gascoigne scored as the Colliers swept local rivals North Shields aside with a 4-0 victory in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup on the opening day back in August but has been forced to miss parts of the season due to injury.

After returning to the starting line up on Saturday, the Dunston-born midfielder spoke about his plan: “Today was my first start for quite a while,” he said, “I’ve been in and out of the team with injuries and the target for me now is to finish the season strongly. I thought I put in a decent performance today and I want to stay in the team and keep the shirt. Obviously I was a little bit disappointed when Belper equalised at the end but we grafted away from home against a side that are pushing for the play offs.”

Gascoigne’s rasping right foot strike – his first goal for Ashington in the Pitching In Northern Premier League East Division – levelled the scores at 1-1 at the Raygar Stadium and he said: “The ball came out to me and it was a little bit like slow motion to be honest. I took a touch and there were loads of players on the goal-line so I tried to put the ball as close to the top corner as I could. It paid off and I was delighted. We only had two substitutes and it was tough but we stuck together and dug in and I was proud of all the boys today because I thought they were fantastic.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC boss Ian Skinner – preparing for Saturday’s tussle against Grimsby Borough at Woodhorn Lane (March 23) – will emphasise to his squad of players the need to improve their form on home soil.

Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Belper Town – where there was a sting in the tail when the Derbyshire-based outfit scored a stoppage time equaliser – was the Colliers’ fourth consecutive away game and the boss said: “We are pleased to have a free week. We looked a touch leggy towards the end of what has been a busy period in terms of having travels to Stockton, Pontefract, Consett and Belper. I don’t want to use the terms being down to the bare bones but obviously we only had two substitutes at Belper today and if we had had a couple more to be able to freshen things up a bit towards the end, who knows what might have happened.”

He continued: “I think the good thing for us is we have got two or three ways of playing now and that’s credit to the lads. We work hard on it in training about being adaptable and being able to switch in terms of how we play and that’s vital for us. Not only does it mean we can play in different ways from game to game but it also means in-game we can change in terms of the system and the shape that we play. That causes opposition sides problems and I thought it was evident at Belper today. I don’t want to sound disrespectful but I don’t think they (Belper) ever got to grips with us and it will be interesting to see the possession stats and the passes completed. I’ll not be surprised if I see that we had more of the ball than them and made far more passes than them – but our performance deserved a little bit more than it got.”

He added: “We’ll dust ourselves down and train this week as we prepare for what will be a tough game against Grimsby Borough. We just need to look at our home form a little bit because we’ve picked up more points on the road. It probably suits us being away because teams have to come at us and when teams do that and leave space, we are a really difficult outfit to play against. At home, teams come and sit in a little bit more and expect us to break them down so that presents a different challenge – but its one we look forward too.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC manager Ian Skinner lauded his players with the highest possible praise after they had secured a point from a 2-2 draw away to Belper Town on Saturday.

The Woodhorn Lane boss saw his outfit denied what would have been a merited 2-1 victory snatched from their grasp following an unbelievable stoppage time equaliser from the home sides Sidik Atcha: “To be honest I thought the boys were magnificent this afternoon,” he said, “I don’t think we could have asked for much more from them. We lost seven players from the squad during the week for various reasons and we’ve had a bit of illness in the camp which has wiped one or two out whilst we had a couple of lads who have been ill, come back in and play today.”

Ashington went a goal behind on the quarter hour mark which left Skinner frustrated: “It terms of the game itself I didn’t think we started particularly well,” he said, “We looked a little bit lethargic and leggy and although I don’t want to look for excuses, that could have been down to the near four hour journey on the coach to Derbyshire. I was really disappointed with the goal we conceded which was poor from our point of view. We got the first contact; the ball has dropped into the box but we haven’t got the second contact and they have scored. However, I was pleased with the reaction of the lads and I thought we went on to control the first half. We got back into it with a good equaliser from Cam Gascoigne then we’ve had a couple of very good chances to take the lead – hitting the crossbar whilst their ‘keeper (Daniel Moore) has made a couple of good saves.”

He continued: “We got in at half time and talked about continuing to keep doing the things which were causing them problems whilst looking to improve on a couple of aspects like when we are out of possession. Second half we started really brightly and had a couple of big opportunities in the first five to ten minutes. Wilson Kneeshaw was played clean through and went around the goalkeeper but had a bit of a heavy touch which allowed the defender to get back onto the line. A couple of minutes later, we’ve done really well in terms of switching the play and Will Constantin has got into the box on the far side on the right hand side but he’s flashed a shot over the bar. Again I thought we went on to control pretty much of the second half. We’ve gone 2-1 up with a good goal – doing what we do best. They (Belper) have held a high line; we’ve got Wilson (Kneeshaw) in behind with his pace and he’s gone through and finished it off really well. After that we dominated large periods of possession whilst they offered the odd little threat on the counter attack. I remember one shot which flashed across our goal but other than that our ‘keeper Karl Dryden hasn’t had a great deal to do. Then there were a couple of big moments. With about ten minutes to go, Wilson (Kneeshaw) has gone through again and hit the post and if he had scored and it goes to 3-1, I think it would have been game over.”

He went on: “Belper have brought a substitute on who can throw the ball into the box but I didn’t feel we were under too much pressure. Then we were in their box and pulled the ball back trying to score a third and they have broke and the centre half (Sidik Atcha) has picked the ball up and has hit an unbelievable strike with the outside of his right foot into the top corner. Without being disrespectful, I’ll give him 100 attempts at doing that again and I reckon he’ll not score more than one!”

He concluded: “It’s a tough one to take because I thought our performance today was as good as I’ve seen from us all season and some of our football was fantastic. We’ve worked a lot on our play in and around the penalty area in terms of being patient; not needing to score with every attack and waiting for the right moment and I thought it was excellent today. I’m just a little bit disappointed for them (the players) as I thought our efforts and showing warranted the three points.”

Our ground capacity has now been confirmed at 1,500 for this game. We’re expecting a big crowd and it will be first come first served.

We’ve opened online sales to Ashington season ticket holders this morning (when logged into their online account) and they will have first chance of purchasing tickets. This will run until Saturday morning.

On Saturday when we take on Grimsby Borough we will be selling tickets in person from 1:30pm. You can buy tickets for this game at:

https://ashingtonafc.ktckts.com/event/asn2324home17/ashington-afc-vs-grimsby-borough

Any remaining tickets will be put on general sale from Monday 25th March.

Tickets are priced as usual at £9 for adults, £5 for senior citizens and students and £3 for Under 16’s. Unfortunately due to the increased costs of hosting this game we are unable to offer our usual online discount.

We will be announcing hospitality offers in the near future but are on the lookout for a match sponsor. Sponsorship is available at £1050 (inclusive of VAT) and will include hospitality for 10, your logo on all advertising and a year long pitch side advertising board. Existing sponsors can access the package at a discounted rate. Expressions of interest should be sent to hospitality@ashingtonafc.com .

Any media requests should be sent to media@ashingtonafc.com

By Brian Bennett

“I’VE GOT A REVISED FIGURE IN MY HEAD – ONLY I’M NOT GOING TO DIVULGE WHAT IT IS!”

Ashington FC’s on-loan striker Connor Thomson has set himself a new goals target – only he’s keeping the figure a closely guarded secret!

Thomson – who celebrated his 28^th birthday last month – linked up with the Colliers in mid October from Morpeth Town but last week the two clubs agreed to extend his loan until the end of the season.

The hotshot forward netted the winner in Ashington’s 3-2 victory over Consett on Saturday – which was his 16^th goal of the campaign and he said afterwards: “I’m absolutely buzzing. When I first came to the club, I wanted to score goals and get assists and I’m delighted with both aspects. I initially set myself a target of ten (goals) and I’ve exceeded that so I’ve got a revised figure in my head – only I’m not going to divulge what it is!”

Newcastle-born Thomson described his goal on Saturday – which brought Ashington their first win at the Belle View Stadium in eight years: “Darren Lough gave me the ball and I took a touch inside,” he said, “I just wanted to hit it (the ball) as hard as I could towards goal and luckily enough it struck someone’s foot and lobbed over the ‘keeper and dropped into the back of the net. Yes it got a deflection but I’ll take it – and with five minutes remaining, it was a great time to score. We needed those three points as well so it proved to be massive.”

Ashington boss Ian Skinner has challenged his players to go through until the end of the season unbeaten and Thomson is hoping they can not only do that but find some consistency: “When I came to the club in October, we got some real good momentum going but then we hit a bit of an off patch where we lost a bit of form,” he added, “We seemed to get our form back and then it dropped off again which is similar to a lot of teams in this league where you can’t seem to find a good routine. However, if we keep pushing and believing in ourselves then I reckon we should be fine for the rest of the season.”

Manager Skinner added: “We are delighted to extend Connor’s loan. He has now scored 16 goals for us and that speaks for itself.”

By Brian Bennett

Ashington FC defender Charlie Exley said that winning the game at Consett on Saturday was the ‘main thing’ – after he had made a goalscoring return to action having been ruled out for the last four and a half months with an ankle injury.

With the scores locked at 1-1 and 20 minutes remaining, Exley was thrust into the fray along with Cam Gascoigne and the two substitutes combined to put their side 2-1 up with the latter setting the ball up for Exley to lash home left footed.

Although Dan Capewell equalised a second time in the contest for the Steelmen, Connor Thomson bagged the three points for the Wansbeck outfit five minutes from time which saw Ashington claim their first win in eight years on the artificial surface at the Belle View Stadium.

Newcastle-born Exley said that he was ‘ready’ and ‘felt comfortable’ to return to action. Earlier in the week he had been named amongst the substitutes – although he didn’t feature – when Ashington drew 3-3 against Pontefract Collieries in West Yorkshire.

“I got the injury at the beginning of November in our away game at Grantham,” said Exley, “I had an MRI scan which showed a miniature break to my ankle. There were no chippings so it didn’t require surgery but its left deep lying bruising which can take a while to go away. I resumed training 4-6 weeks ago and was named on the bench last Tuesday. I was ready if required and I felt comfortable knowing that if I had to come on that I would be fine.”

On Saturday, Exley was again named as a substitute (at Consett) and just shy of the half way mark in the second period, was given the nod by manager Ian Skinner.

Five minutes later, the 23 year old netted with a fine left foot finish: “It was quite a clean strike and against my former club – even though I’ve still got some really good friends at Consett,” he said, “It was just a relief to get back on the pitch and play and I just tried to be positive when I came on. I thought the game was crying out for someone to spark a bit of life and intensity into it and I thought Cam (Gascoigne) and I did well – we compliment ourselves in different ways.”

Exley – a street lighting electrician – went on: “When I get injuries they tend to be serious – so with my fingers crossed, my target is to finish the season unscathed and help the lads to push on because we should be further up the table. It was good to score on my comeback but securing the win was the icing on cake.”